A Le Corbusier structure has hit the market for perhaps the first time in its century of existence. The sunny Miestchaninoff House-Studio stands three stories tall amidst a thicket of trees, the crown gem of a multi-structure plot in the ritzy Boulogne-Billancourt enclave bordering Paris’s 16th arrondissement. Avant-garde artists Oscar Miestchaninoff and Jacques Lipchitz commissioned the controversial architect and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret to design their live-work spaces in the trendy modernist styles of their era.
The complex has stood at 9 Allée des Pins since 1925. Now, one aficionado can steer its next 100 years, for the price of €4.95 million ($5.1 million).
Miestchaninoff moved from Odessa to Paris in 1906, and quickly settled in the Montparnasse artist colony La Ruche. After stints studying at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Miestchaninoff devoted himself to the life of a working sculptor. He participated in Paris salons and international exhibitions alike alongside the soon-to-be legends he called friends, such as Amadeo Modigliani, Diego Rivera, and Lipchitz, a Cubist sculptor who had moved to Paris from Lithuania in 1909.
Both Miestchaninoff and Lipchitz were stalwarts of Paris’s creative scene during the 1910s and 1920s. Lipchitz met Le Corbusier at an auction in 1921, according to Architecture de Collection, the real estate agency handling this sale. But, both he and Miestchaninoff loved collecting. The latter worked as a dealer, and favored Asian art, while Lipchitz preferred African. Miestchaninoff even requested an exhibition space amongst the lush property’s many offerings.
The whole setup spans nearly 4300 square feet, and two structures. (Le Corbusier was supposed to design a third structure for artisan engraver Victor Canale here, but Canale went with a different architect.) Thus, the larger of the two buildings, meant for Miestchaninoff and his wife, offers laundry in the basement and a sprawling rooftop terrace. Lipchitz’s smaller, single-bedroom home across the garden has its own hammam.
Both buildings situated their respective artists’ studios on their ground floors, to better facilitate the movement of their sculptures in and out. Private residences were relegated to the upper floors. The combined living area amounts to almost 2600 square feet.
Miestchaninoff even requested an exhibition space amongst the lush property’s many offerings.
Fans may never get to see 9 Allée de Pins, which sits along a private street in Boulogne-Billancourt. Take it from these photos, though—its architecture decisively contrasts the neighborhood’s many mansard roofs. Le Corbusier and Jeanneret envisioned the Miestchaninoff House-Studio in the popular “Streamline Moderne” movement—that’s why its eye-catching cylindrical turret, expansive decks, and curved staircase inside all evoke a cruise ship (the same place Le Corbusier purportedly fell in love with performer Josephine Baker).
The Miestchaninoff House-Studio isn’t the only home Le Corbusier created in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Maison Cook, completed in 1926, still stands, but his Maison Ternisien, finished that same year, does not. Neither had quite the sunny, vacation feel that the Miestchaninoff House-Studio provides. The home’s namesake died in 1956, and Lipchitz died in 1973. Their charming commune became a national historic site two years later. The abode has been restored back to pristine condition, with immense attention given to maintaining its authenticity.
Vittoria Benzine is a Brooklyn-based journalist
